When LeBron James steps on the court in Boston tonight, the Cavaliers star doesn't want to just chase history -- he's out to make it.

He'll see the 16 championship banners hanging in TD Banknorth Garden. He'll look at the retired numbers for Larry Bird, Bill Russell, Kevin McHale, Bob Cousy and the rest of the Celtics greats with appreciation, having watched them play in highlights films. Unlike many of his NBA peers, he understands the accomplishments of those men -- as well as K.C. Jones, Sam Jones and some Celtics Hall of Famers who are not as well-known.

Yes, James knows his hoops history, but he also has a sense of destiny.

That's why he doesn't just believe the Cavaliers will knock off Boston in the second round of playoffs that opens tonight, he expects it.

Right after the Cavaliers eliminated Washington in the first round, James said he and his teammates wanted more. Much more. He talked about getting back to the Finals, and this year, "winning it . . . that's our goal."

Lee Cotton heard that and wasn't surprised. Along with Dru Joyce II, Cotton coached James from the fifth grade through his four years at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School.

"LeBron talked about us winning a national title when he was a junior," Cotton said. "When that didn't happen, he came back even more determined as a senior, and we did win it. That swagger you see from him? It's backed up by skills and confidence. Some guys have the skills, but not the swagger. Others have the swagger, but not enough skills. He's the whole package."

It was the same when James was drafted by the Cavaliers in 2003 and promised to "light up Cleveland like Vegas." He did that last season. The Cavs surprised the NBA by coming back from a 2-0 deficit to beat Detroit four games in a row and claim the first Eastern Conference title in franchise history.

James doesn't talk about it, but it bothered him that the Cavs didn't just lose in the NBA Finals -- they were swept in four games and he didn't play very well. For all the media hyperventilating about the Celtics' new Big Three -- Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen -- James believes he is the game's best player. He also is convinced his team can beat Boston.

Not that he talks about this at length, but you can sense it.

"It's greatness," said Wayne Embry, the former Cavaliers general manager and a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame. "The Cavs didn't win 66 games like Boston. But LeBron's greatness can help everyone else on the Cavs elevate their game in the playoffs. We saw it in Cleveland when we couldn't get by Michael [Jordan]. I expect the Cavs to win the series."

Now a consultant with the Toronto Raptors, Embry still has memories of Jordan knocking the Cavs out of the playoffs five times from 1988 to '94. Think about that, five times in seven years losing to Jordan in the playoffs.

Like Jordan, James wears No. 23. When James was growing up in Akron, Jordan was his favorite player.

"Now the Cavs have their own No. 23," Embry said. "When you face a guy like Mike or LeBron and it's close at the end of the game, he scares you. You know he's going to get the ball. But you don't know if you can stop him."

But unlike Jordan -- who still lives in nightmares for Embry and Cavs fans from the Mark Price, Larry Nance, Brad Daugherty and Lenny Wilkens era -- this No. 23 allows Cavs fans to dream big.

This is the first time James has faced the Celtics in the playoffs. He knows they are favorites, no matter how often Boston coach Doc Rivers tries to pose his team as the underdogs, because, "Every time we play Cleveland, I tell my team that we're trying to catch them, not them catching us . . . they went to Finals."

But Boston had the NBA's best regular-season record. The national media are longing to anoint another Celtics dynasty, to celebrate the coming together of future Hall of Famers Allen, Pierce and Garnett. That will inspire James, too. He won't be intimidated; the last Celtics title was in 1986, when the now 23-year-old James was still in diapers.

"LeBron will love playing in Boston in a series like this," Cotton said. "I used to tell him that iron sharpens iron -- the bigger the game, the more he likes it. When he comes down that tunnel and steps on the hardwood floor, he'll be ready."

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